1 . The sea is home to billions of plants and animals. Many live only near the sunlit surface. Oceanographers sort marine (海洋的) living beings by dividing them into two main groups: plants and animals.
There are two general types of plants found in the ocean, those having roots that grow in the ocean bottom and those not having roots which simply float around with water. The rooted plants in the ocean are only found in shallow waters because there is not enough sunlight to maintain photosynthesis (光合作用) in deeper waters. Since sunlight does not pass more than a few hundred feet into the ocean, most of the ocean is unable to support rooted plants.
The most plants in the ocean are known as phytoplankton (浮游植物群落) . These are usually single-celled, small floating plants that float throughout the surface waters of the ocean. To grow, phytoplankton need nutrients from the sea water and lots of sunlight.
Marine animals are divided into three groups: zooplankton, nekton, and benthos. Zooplankton are floating animals and are usually small; however, they can grow to fairly large size. The jellyfish and the Portuguese man-of-war are examples of larger types of zooplankton which are unable to move themselves effectively.
Nekton are the free swimmers and probably the largest part of familiar animals found in the ocean belong to this class. Common fishes, octopuses, whales, eels and squid are all examples of nekton.
The third type of sea animals spends their entire life on the bottom of the ocean. This group of marine animals is called benthos. Some of these creatures, such as lobsters and snails, may be able to move about on the bottom but their lifestyle is so closely linked with the ocean floor that they are unable to survive away from this environment.
1. What does the text mainly introduce?| A．Marine plants and marine animals. | B．Two types of sea plants. |
| C．Three kinds of sea animals. | D．Small and big animals in the ocean. |
| A．Because there are too many rocks at the bottom of the ocean. |
| B．Because the rooted plants can’t stand the coldness of the ocean. |
| C．Because there is not enough sunlight for them in deep waters. |
| D．Because the rooted plants need more sunlight than plants which have no roots. |
| A．they are small and never grow to large size |
| B．some of the zooplankton can’t swim quickly |
| C．they can swim freely in deep waters of the ocean |
| D．they need more sunlight than other animals in the ocean |
| A．benthos live on the surface of the ocean water |
| B．some of the benthos can’t live without the ocean floor |
| C．benthos spend most of their time swimming in the ocean |
| D．benthos can move about in the middle of the sea water |
2 . The Terracotta Army is one of the must-visit attractions for all travellers to China. The attraction is located in Xi’an, in west China’s Shaanxi Province.
What’s special?
The Terracotta Army is the buried army of Qin Shi Huang, an ancient Chinese emperor. These ancient sculptures were built and buried over two thousand years ago near the city of Xi’an. They were discovered in 1974 by farmers digging a well looking for underground water. Over eight thousand terracotta warriors and horses have been uncovered since then. Each warrior is made of clay (黏土). They are around two meters tall. The sculptures are so detailed that it is possible to guess the age, rank and personality of each one. None of the soldiers are the same.
The best time to visit
The Terracotta Army is an indoor attraction， which is not likely to be affected by weather, so it can be visited all year round.
As the museum is one of the must-visit attractions in China, it is crowded most of the time. We advise our customers to avoid the following periods when the museum is particularly crowded:
• National Day Holiday (October 1 -7), when it is fully packed.
• Labour Day Holiday
Weather in winter is dry, cold and the least comfortable, and it’s also the worst season for air quality, but it’s also low season.
Travel style: private, group or independent?
A private tour means a lot of flexibility (灵活性), and you will be well taken care of by a private guide and a driver. The museum is crowded most of the time, but our guides know how to escape the crowds, and help you to enjoy more in the museum. See our 3-Day Terracotta Warriors Private Tour.
Going with a group you won’t get lost, but it lacks flexibility and personal service.
Travelling on your own, you may meet a lot of trouble, such as wasting time on finding a taxi or public bus to the attraction, lining up for tickets, reading maps, making sense of Chinese signs, etc.
1. What can we know about the Terracotta Army?| A．The warriors are made of clay. |
| B．The warriors are of the same age. |
| C．It is closed on rainy days. |
| D．It is usually displayed outdoors. |
| A．Summer holidays. |
| B．National Day Holiday. |
| C．Labour Day Holiday. |
| D．Clear winter days. |
| A．A private tour. |
| B．A tour group. |
| C．Travelling on your own. |
| D．A family tour. |
3 . Color is fundamental in home design—something you’ll always have in every room. A grasp of how to manage color in your spaces is one of the first steps to creating rooms you’ll love to live in. Do you want a room that’s full of life? Professional? Or are you just looking for a place to relax after a long day?
Over the years, there have been a number of different techniques to help designers approach this important point.
Medium color choices are generally furniture pieces such as sofas, dinner tables or bookshelves.
The large color decisions in your rooms concern the walls, ceilings, and floors. Whether you’re looking at wallpaper or paint, the time, effort and relative expense put into it are significant.
| A．While all of them are useful |
| B．Whatever you’re looking for |
| C．If you’re experimenting with a color |
| D．Small color choices are the ones we’re most familiar with |
| E．It’s not really a good idea to use too many small color pieces |
| F．So it pays to be sure, because you want to get it right the first time |
| G．Color choices in this range are a step up from the small ones in two major ways |
4 . Scientists today are making greater effort to study ocean currents (洋流) . Most do it using satellites and other high-tech equipment. However, ocean expert Curtis Ebbesmeyer does it in a special way — by studying movements of random floating garbage. A scientist with many years’ experience, he started this type of research in the early 1990s when he heard about hundreds of athletic shoes washing up on the shores of the northwest coast of the United States. There were so many shoes that people were setting up swap meets to try and match left and right shoes to sell or wear.
Ebbesmeyer found out in his researches that the shoes — about 60,000 in total — fell into the ocean in a shipping accident. He phoned the shoe company and asked if they wanted the shoes back. As expected, the company told him that they didn't. Ebbesmeyer realized this could be a great experiment. If he learned when and where the shoes went into the water and tracked where they landed, he could learn a lot about the patterns of ocean currents.
The Pacific Northwest is one of the world's best areas for beachcombing (海滩搜寻) because winds and currents join here, and as a result, there is a group of serious beachcombers in the area. Ebbesmeyer got to know a lot of them and asked for their help in collecting information about where the shoes landed. In a year he collected reliable information on 1, 600 shoes. With this data, he and a colleague were able to test and improve a computer program designed to model ocean currents, and publish the findings of their study.
As the result of his work, Ebbesmeyer has become known as the scientist to call with questions about any unusual objects found floating in the ocean. He has even started an association of beachcombers and ocean experts, with 500 subscribers from West Africa to New Zealand. They have recorded all lost objects ranging from potatoes to golf gloves.
1. Ebbesmeyer phoned the shoe company to find out _____________.| A．what caused the shipping accident |
| B．when and where the shoes went missing |
| C．whether it was all right to use their shoes |
| D．how much they lost in the shipping accident |
| A．By collecting information from beachcombers. |
| B．By studying the shoes found by beachcomber. |
| C．By searching the web for ocean currents models. |
| D．By researching ocean currents data in the library. |
| A．traveling widely the coastal cities of the world |
| B．making records for any lost objects on the sea |
| C．running a global currents research association |
| D．phoning about any doubtful objects on the sea |
| A．To call people's attention to ocean pollution. |
| B．To warn people of shipping safety in the ocean. |
| C．To explain a unique way of studying ocean currents. |
| D．To give tips on how to search for lost objects on the beach. |
1．回收利用有用物质，掩埋有害物质。
2．废水、废气要净化；
3．植树造林，保护环境；
4．保护海洋，禁止过度捕鱼；
5．充分利用自然资源。
注意：1．词数：120左右；
2．可适当发挥，但不要逐句翻译
重点词汇词组：garbage environment take some measures
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Long, long ago, there were a lot of donkeys. The donkeys worked hard every day. They had no time to play or to relax, but they never felt appreciated for the work they did.
One day two donkeys got bored. They wanted to live a comfortable life. So the donkeys went to see a wise old man. They told him their problem. The wise old man agreed that they worked too hard, and he wanted to help the donkeys. “I have an idea,” he said.
“What is your idea?” asked the donkeys.
“I will paint you and no one will know you are donkeys,” said the man.
The man went off to find some paint and he returned in just a few minutes. He had two pots of paint. One pot was filled with white paint, and the other black paint.
The old man first painted them white, and then painted black stripes (条纹) over the white paint. When he finished, the donkeys did not look at all like donkeys. “You no longer look like donkeys,” the old man said. “Everyone will be fooled. I will call you something else, zebras.”
The zebras went to a field to eat grass. Now they did not have to work.
Soon, other donkeys saw the zebras. They asked the zebras where they came from. When the zebras told the donkeys their secret, the donkeys all rushed to see the old man.
“Make us into zebras, too,” they pleaded. So the wise old man painted more donkeys. As he did, more and more donkeys came.
The old man could not paint fast enough. Soon the donkeys became impatient. They began to kick about, and they knocked over the paint pots.
There was no more paint. The painted donkeys ran off to become zebras. The unpainted donkeys, because of their impatience, had to return to work.
This is why it is important to be patient.
1. The two donkeys went to see a wise old man in order to ________.| A．tell him their problem | B．ask him for help |
| C．change into zebras | D．get some grass |
| A．Because they didn’t eat enough grass. |
| B．Because they didn’t want to work. |
| C．Because no one knew they were donkeys. |
| D．Because they were no longer donkeys. |
| A．Advised. | B．Ordered. |
| C．Agreed. | D．Begged. |
| A．no more paint was left |
| B．all the paint was used up |
| C．they couldn’t wait any longer |
| D．he was too tired to paint |
As soon as she recovered, Hill traveled to California. There she saw ancient redwood trees, which are the largest trees in the whole world. The wood from redwood trunks is very hard. So the Pacific Lumber Company cut down many of the huge redwoods to use for construction. There are not many forests of these trees left. Many environmental activists want to protect the remaining trees. The redwoods are very important to the environment.
In 1997 Hill learned a group called Earth First was working to protect a particular group of trees. They decided to send someone up into a redwood tree, hoping this would stop the company from cutting the trees down. Julia Butterfly Hill volunteered.
Hill lived in the tree for over two years without ever coming down. Her home was a 6-by-8-foot tree house, 180 feet up. It is always cold and wet in a redwood tree. There were even very serious winter storms while Hill was in the tree. The wind and cold almost knocked Hill out of the tree. But she did not fall — she survived.
Finally, after years of arguing, the company decided to protect Luna, the tree Hill lived in. They signed an agreement to never cut down this huge redwood tree or the trees around it. When Hill put her feet on the earth again, she began to cry. But from that moment on Hill hasn’t stopped working to protect the environment.
1. Julia Butterfly Hill traveled to California _____.
| A．to find a new job |
| B．to build a tree house |
| C．with the hope of joining Earth First |
| D．in expectation of doing something meaningful |
| A．because they might fall over at any time |
| B．because they had great economic value |
| C．to protect other trees in the forest |
| D．to make space for constructions |
| A．comfortable | B．cool | C．tough | D．satisfying |
| A．She has a sense of social responsibility. |
| B．She failed to protect the redwood tree. |
| C．She built a new house in the forest. |
| D．She is a self-centered woman |
8 . Since the first Earth Day in 1970, Americans have gotten a lot “greener” toward the environment. “We didn’t know at that time there even was an environment, let alone that there was a problem with it,” says Bruce Anderson, president of Earth Day USA.
But what began as nothing important in public affairs has grown into a social movement .Business people, political leaders, university professors, and especially millions of grass-roots Americans are taking part in the movement. “The understanding has increased many， many times,” says Gaylord Nelson, the former governor from Wisconsin, who thought up the first. According to US government reports, emissions (排放)from cars and trucks have dropped from 10.3 million tons a year to 5.5 tons .The number of cities producing CO beyond the standard has been reduced from 40 to 9. Although serious problems still remain and need to be dealt with, the world is a safer and healthier place. A kind of “Green thinking” has become part of practices.
Great improvement has been achieved. In 1988 there were only 600 recycling programs; today in 1995 there are about 6,600. Advanced lights, motors, and building designs have helped save a lot of energy and therefore prevented pollution.
Twenty –five years ago, there were hardly any education programs for environment. Today, it’s hard to find a public school, university, or law school that does not have such a kind of program. “Until we do that, nothing else will change!” says Bruce Anderson.
1. According to Anderson, before 1970, Americans had little idea about ___.| A．the social movement | B．recycling techniques |
| C．environmental problems | D．the importance of Earth Day |
| A．The grass –roots level. | B．The business circle. |
| C．Government officials. | D．University professors. |
| A．They have cut car emissions to the lowest. |
| B．They have settled their environmental problems. |
| C．They have lowered their CO levels in forty cities. |
| D．They have reduced pollution through effective measures. |
| A．Education. | B．Planning |
| C．Green living | D．CO reduction |
Domestic (驯养的) horses now pull ploughs, race in the Kentucky Derby, and carry police. But early horses weren’t tame (驯服的) enough to perform these kinds of tasks. Scientists think the first interactions humans had with horses were far different from those today.
Thousands of years ago, people killed the wild horses that lived around them for food. Over time, people began to catch the animals and raise them. This was the first step in domestication.
As people began to tame and ride horses, they chose to keep those animals that had more desirable characteristics. For example, people may have chosen to keep horses that had a gentle personality so they could be ridden more easily. People who used horses to pull heavy loads would have chosen to keep stronger animals. Characteristics like strength are partly controlled by the animals’ genes. So as the domesticated horses reproduced, they passed the characteristics on to their young. Each new generation of houses would show more of these chosen characteristics.
Modern day horse breeds come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. This variety didn’t exist in the horse population before domestication. The Shetland horse is one of the smallest breeds—typically reaching only one meter tall. With short, strong legs, the animals were bred to pull coal out of mine shafts (矿井) with low ceilings. Huge horses like the Clydesdale came on the scene around 1700. People bred these heavy, tall horses to pull large vehicles used for carrying heavy loads.
The domestication of horses has had great effects on societies. For example, horse were important tools in the advancement of modern agriculture. Using them to pull ploughs and carry heavy loads allowed people to farm more efficiently. Before they were able to ride horses, humans had to cross land on foot. Riding horses allowed people to travel far greater distance in much less time. That encouraged populations living in different areas to interact with one another. The new from of rapid transportation helped cultures spread around the world.
1. Before domestication horses were ______.
| A．caught for sports | B．hunted for food |
| C．made to pull ploughs | D．used to carry people |
| A．it is smaller than the Clydesdale horse | B．horse used to have gentle personalities |
| C．some horses have better shaped than others | D．horses were of less variety before domestication |
| A．carrying heavy loads | B．changing farming methods |
| C．serving as a means of transport | D．advancing agriculture in different areas |
| A．why humans domesticated horses | B．how humans and horses needed each other |
| C．why horses came in different shapes and sizes | D．how human societies and horses influenced each other |
Do you talk to your plants?
| A．Plants get energy from the sun. |
| B．Do you give them love and take good care of them? |
| C．After six months, the deserted plant faded away. |
| D．After six months, the beloved plant was bigger. |
| E．We take in oxygen that plants make. |
| F．Everywhere people need beautiful plants. |
| G．Imagine a world with no plants. |
